It has been over a year since the release of ME3 and I have only today become aware of the unsung hero, Marauder Shields.
Mid 2012 saw me picking up an Xbox 360 controller for the first time to play a game that had been cryptically referred to on a T-shirt proclaiming, "Waiting for Kaidan. Will settle for Garrus." After countless deaths, often accompanied by hurled Oedipal accusations, by late 2012, I found myself on Insanity, first shooting Collectors and then Reapers in the face with the cool equanimity of a veteran Alliance marine. Until I came to the beam.
I had been able to dispatch that Marauder on previous iterations, having masochistically played through on Casual up to Hardcore, only to reach ME3's appalling climactic juncture time and time again. This time, Marauder Shields decided it was time to stop the Insanity.
Marauder Shields' tenacity led me to discover the artistry of koobismo and the writing of Colin Dray, who adroitly argues that BioWare's crime was a quadrigeminal violation of its core narrative and who, like me, alludes to the intellectual laziness that necessarily led to its conception.
This past week the Montréal team was in Edmonton, in all likelihood working on BioWare's next offering from the ME universe. I hope they've come up with something wonderful, I truly do. But Marauder Shields serves as a reminder to look before you leap, to be careful what you wish for, and perhaps letting the universe burn into oblivion may be the best choice after all.
